History Main / DressCode

* Many American public schools have a dress code, though usually more about prohibiting certain things than requiring a particular dress (e.g., no obscene shirts, no underwear showing, or no hats). The schools vary in how strictly they enforce it, although the prevalence of uniform dress codes has ratcheted up since 1997. Private and parochial schools often have much stricter dress codes up to and including uniforms.
** Often subverted by the students, who despite being required to wear their skirts knee-length, [[http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/36851/kilts-hiked-into-school-debate/ hem]] them into mini-skirts.
** Some girls who really want to piss off a teacher will wear an ankle-length skirt, follow the rest of the dress code to the letter, and then dare a teacher to tell her she's violating the dress code. Telling a girl her skirt is too long will not end well for a school district. An expensive lawsuit plus a shitload of bad publicity is where things start.
** Recent high profile incidents have hit the headlines with parents and pupils fighting back against arbitrary, archaic and just plain sexist dress codes including:
*** Failing to account for different builds - sanctioning some girls because they are bustier and fill out the same top more than others or the “fingertip” rule on shorts making an identical pair ok on a shorter girl but a violation on a taller one.
*** Reinforcing more old-fashioned rules on gender roles by putting the onus on girls to avoid wearing anything too revealing rather than teaching boys to behave respectfully regardless of how girls are dressed and by implication being stricter on girls than boys.
*** Blatantly sexist double standards in dress code enforcement, usually aimed at girls. For example, making girls stretch their arms above their heads and sanctioning them for bare midriff if their top and bottom show a gap - even if it normally wouldn't - when boys can walk around in shirts open to the navel, and boys attending Catholic schools being banned from wearing braids and earrings.
*** A complete lack of common sense in relation to the temperature and weather and the dress code - either forcing pupils to wear hot and restrictive clothing during hot weather or refusing to let them wear more in the cold.

* Workplaces with an element of physical risk, such as building sites or warehouses, typically have a dress code that sets out what personal protective equipment employees and site visitors are required to wear. High-vis vests, work gloves, hard-toed boots, hard hats and harnesses are often the most common features of these. These items are mandated by OSHA (or equivalent) standards, so ignoring or circumventing the dress code on these jobs is a good way to be permanently sent home.
** Physically risky workplaces also tend to ''prohibit'' neckties, lest they get caught in machinery. Police and security guards generally don't wear neckties (except perhaps clip-on ones) because they could be grabbed during an altercation.

* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter'''s ''London Life'' game, your character will not be allowed inside the classier establishments of Little London unless his or her outfit has a sufficient Formality score. The way the system works, you can get away with stuff like wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses in a fancy restaurant just so long as the rest of your outfit is nice enough to make up for it.

** Miss Buxley often flouts the office dress code. PVT Blips has remarked that [[DirtyOldMan General Halftrack]] won't say anything about her pants being too tight because [[DistractedByTheSexy it's hard to speak with your tongue hanging out]].
** In one strip, Miss Buxley wears a [[BareYourMidriff matching mini-skirt and cropped top]] to work and explains to PVT Blips why she's wearing that outfit:

* When visiting a mosque or a conservative Islamic country, women are required to cover their hair (for traditional Muslim women, this applies everywhere in public.
* Sikhs (men and women) [[Never Bareheaded cover their hair when in public]], and carry the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Ks Five Ks]]", including a comb, bracelet, shorts called ''kachera'', and a sword or knife called the ''kirpan''.

-->'''Calvin:''' I saw a sign on a restaurant door that said "No shirt, no shoes, no service." But it didn't say anything about pants! If I went in wearing shoes and a shirt by no pants, they'd have to serve me!\\

* In a series of sketches on ''The Creator/LennyHenry'' show involving TheBouncer acting as security in places other than nightclubs, and failing to recognise that the rules are different, one of his foibles is refusing entrance to anyone wearing trainers.

* England, circa the 17th century onwards, the length of one's wig determined one's social status in polite society. This still remains with English law: judges wear longer, full wigs than the barristers (lawyers) who wear short, abbreviated ones--although because nothing is simple in English law or custom, the Court of Appeal wears short wigs and the Supreme Court (formerly the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords) doesn't even wear robes, sitting instead in suits. Also, judges and King's Counsel ([=KCs=] for short, senior barristers who have been formally recognised for their skill; the title becomes Queen's Counsel or QC when the monarch is male) wear silk robes and stockings in court, while junior barristers wear other materials. This requirement has led to the process of becoming a KC being called "taking silk" and [=KCs=] being referred to as "silks".

* England, circa the 17th century onwards, the length of one's wig determined one's social status in polite society. This still remains with English law: judges wear longer, full wigs than the barristers (lawyers) who wear short, abbreviated ones--although because nothing is simple in English law or custom, the Court of Appeal wears short wigs and the Supreme Court (formerly the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords) doesn't even wear robes, sitting instead in suits. Also, judges and Queen's Counsel ([=QCs=] for short, senior barristers who have been formally recognised for their skill; the title becomes King's Counsel when the monarch is male) wear silk robes and stockings in court, while junior barristers wear other materials. This requirement has led to the process of becoming a QC being called "taking silk" and [=QCs=] being referred to as "silks".

* ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'': The Big Chapter Book ''And the Dress Code'' revolves around one; the plot starts when the annual run of new spring fashions (or "rad clothes") starts getting out of hand at Bear Country School, in part out of rebellion after SternTeacher Miss Glitch orders Queenie [=McBear=] to go home and change due to disapproving her choice of clothing (a very short miniskirt) despite only being on hall duty and ''not'' being Queenie's teacher, and not even sending her to the principal's office first. Vice-Principal Grizzmeyer, who becomes acting principal while Principal Honeycomb is out of town on school-related business, fully supports Miss Glitch because he also disapproves of the rad clothes, and institutes a dress code specifically aimed at banning them, along with roping other adults outside the school into the movement against them. When the cubs turn to LoopholeAbuse to get past the rules, he keeps updating it to try and close the loopholes, until it boils down to "Any cub who shows up in clothes ''I'' don't approve of will be sent home, no exceptions". The cubs respond by threatening to refuse to come to school unless he backs down. Finally, some other adults persuade both sides to agree to debate, which the cubs win handily via revealing the three lead adults in the anti-rad movement [[IWasQuiteAFashionVictim were no better in their youth]]. After the anti-rad group concedes, Principal Honeycomb reveals he's returned early and declares an end to the dress code, along with instituting casual Fridays, which satisfies the students and leads them to tone down the clothes of their own free will.

* Parodied in [[Website/CollegeHumor CollegeHumor]]'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLZ8L6SZmaA Problem]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FC85vgHCmM With]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_QhF5HYdS4 Jeggings]] series.

Not to be confused with HollywoodDressCode.

** Certain U.S. states have—or at least had—a dress code for taking the bar examination (the test for law graduates to be officially permitted to practice and call themselves lawyers). Virginia in particular was famous for requiring examinees to sit the full two-day exam in proper business attire (i.e. suits).

** Historically, the restrictions were even tighter; it used to be that many courts required counsel to appear in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_dress morning dress]]. American courts generally dropped this requirement over the 20th century; however, there are some traces, particularly the tradition where the U.S. Solicitor General and his/her deputies (the lawyers responsible for arguing cases in the Supreme Court for the U.S. government) continue to appear for oral argument in morning dress to this day.

* In ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'', Hilla Treasure Co's "No shoes, no shirt, no service" sign frequently causes inconvenience for the many shirtless barbarians and adventurers drawn to the kingdom's treasures.

* The protagonist of ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'' has these in which the screen fades to white around the edges.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', girls from Tokiwadai Middle School are required to wear their uniform at all times, even outside of school. Mikoto wears ModestyShorts under her skirt since it's too short for her.

* In ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', Natsuki Koshimizu shows up in a SailorFuku and says that she took a long time preparing for the [[spoiler: fake]] Detectives Koshien show because she's from a school that has a very strict dress code.

* In ''Literature/TheSwordOfTruth'' series, length of hair on women designates social standing. The most important woman in the Midlands--the Mother Confessor--has the longest hair, and it's socially (and in some places, legally) unacceptable to have hair any longer than hers.

# To show that a character [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail is going to violate the code, and get in some form of trouble over it]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Bug|Martini}}'' shows us some [[http://www.bugcomic.com/comics/dress-code/ variations on casual Friday.]]

# To add flavor to the place, such as a DeadlyDecadentCourt.

* In UsefulNotes/VaticanCity, the guards enforce a strict dress code for entry to St. Peter's Basilica: [[http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Pics/SQR/DressCode-JG.jpg No bare shoulders or skirts/shorts above the knee for either men or for women]]. (It's also considered respectful for women to cover their hair.)